MDisability

MDisability is a collaborative family medicine program focused on improving the primary care of people with disabilities through medical education, research, clinical care and community partnerships. A critical need exists to address disparities and under-representation through synchronized initiatives across primary care, medical education and research. MDisability is committed to providing opportunities for training, research and education, which contributes to culturally compassionate, person-centered primary care and increased representation of PWD.

Established in 2019, MDisability is tackling issues such as health care barriers, suboptimal quality of care, and ableist attitudes in primary care in collaboration with affiliated clinicians, educators and researchers. The program also addresses the lack of disability health curricula in medical schools and residency programs.

Additionally, MDisability provides research opportunities to address the fact that research study efforts often overlook disability. This impacts the engagement and inclusion of individuals with disabilities in research, medical education and health care teams.

Our Michigan Medicine health providers and researchers also are innovating and improving upon the accessibility and quality of care for patients with disabilities.

Philip Zazove, MD, MDisability founder and the former George A. Dean Chair of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan, left a tremendous legacy as a deaf clinician and researcher when he retired from the University of Michigan in 2022. Even in retirement, he continues to be a tireless advocate for health care for people with disabilities and pushes for changes that open access to medical school education to students who also have disabilities, not only at U-M but across the globe.

Dr. Zazove has been a pioneer in many ways, even from youth when he was one of the first deaf children mainstreamed in the northern Chicago suburbs. He went on to attend Northwestern University and then decided to attend medical school. Despite his deafness, he was admitted to Rutgers Medical School and went on to establish his own medical practice in Utah in 1981. He joined the University of Michigan as an assistant professor in 1989.

Dr Zazove notes that many physicians are still unaware of the health care experiences and accommodation needs of those with disabilities. Many clinicians also feel uncomfortable treating this patient population, even though over 20% of Americans (approximately 61 million people) have an existing disability. This inspired Dr. Zazove to spearhead the MDisability program during his time as department chair.

“There’s so much work to be done in improving the health and lives of people with disabilities – and most of us will develop a disability at some point in our lives,” he said.